


Witching Hour

by syphoner



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Magic, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Salem Witch Trials, Religion, Witch AU, colonial AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 14:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8492587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syphoner/pseuds/syphoner
Summary: Judy Hopps has come, alone, to the town of Tri-burrows, in the Meadowlands County. She settles in well: she goes to church every Sunday, she observes Communion, and is well-liked as a healer, partly because of her ability and partly because she has reasonable prices. She thinks she is safe - until two foxes appear in Tri-burrows: the errant scholar Nicholas Wilde who had an obsession with witches and witchcraft, and Cardinal Gideon Grey, a roving missionary hell-bent on “protecting” and purging his world from demons and devils of all sorts, who develops a sudden interest in one particular amethyst-eyed rabbit.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Meant to be for Halloween, life got in the way of me finishing it in time. This ended up a lot longer than expected.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Miss Hopps! May I trouble your presence for a moment?”

 

Judith Hopps stopped and turned back the way she had come, to see Father Joseph approaching her as fast as his legs could carry the portly old goat. She offered a faint smile in greeting. “Of course, Father. What may I do for you?”

 

“There… There’s a young ewe that has recently expressed interest in learning the healing arts. Her parents are agreeable to her ambitions, and have asked for the Church’s help in finding her a mentor.”

 

“That is certainly admirable, Father. The Lord will it, I’m sure she’ll make a wonderful healer, especially under the tutelage of Sister Margaret and Sister Mary.”

 

“I certainly hope so, Miss Hopps. But that is the heart of the matter which I came here to discuss with you.” Judy waited politely as the priest took a few more deep breaths, glancing around to make sure no one was in earshot. “Between you and me, Sister Margaret is beginning to get on in age and lacks the mobility of her youth. And Sister Mary is already feeling the strain of the extra work that she has had to take on, including training the girls who have come to live in the convent and devote themselves to our Lord.”

 

“Poor dears. I’ll pray for them tonight. I wish I could do more to help them, but I feel as if I would only get in the way, trying to work alongside so many other people.”

 

“Ah, but there is a way you could help them! I have discussed this with the girl in question, and with her parents, and they are all in agreement that _you_ would be the best mammal to teach her!”

 

“M-me? I… I don’t know what to say…” One paw left the handle of the wicker basket she was carrying as Judy clutched at her breast, left reeling by the old goat’s words. While admittedly she was flattered by the thought that she was so highly regarded by both the church and the community as a whole to teach someone else how to save lives and cure illnesses, that offer was the last thing she was expecting to hear from the priest.

 

“Well, you could say yes… And if it helps to persuade you at all, the family have agreed to pay a small stipend for your services. Though I have no doubt a good Christian woman such as yourself would be glad to accept out of her own charity.”

 

“Forgive me, Father. Your request simply came as a bit of a shock. I wasn’t expecting for anyone to wish me to make an apprentice of their child, at least not so soon and with Madame Bushtail still as young as she is.”

 

“Madame Bushtail is very skilled, true. But she can be a bit brusque, and she is asking for far too much money to take on the ewe in question. Besides, her parents recognize you; they see you here every Sunday, after all! And if they would prefer to send their daughter off to the mammal who they know best… well, who came fault them for that?”

 

“Of course, Father. I understand now. I would be glad to take on this girl as my apprentice, especially if she has a passion for healing.” The old goat’s face lit up with a radiant smile, and Judy found she couldn’t help but return the expression with one of her own. “If I may ask, who is it that I will be accepting as my student?”

 

“Elizabeth Stonehorn, the daughter of Lord Alexander Stonehorn.”

 

“M-Miss Elizabeth Stonehorn? That’s… that’s… not what I was expecting you to say.” She clutched harder at her breast, fighting the nausea that had crept up under her fur. Apparently it showed in her features, because Father Joseph reached out his hooves to steady her.

 

“It came as quite a shock to me as well, but she was determined, and who am I to question the strength of her devotion to our Lord? I promised her when she came to me that if she wanted to act as a receptacle for our Lord’s divine will, then I would do everything in my power to help her attain her goals. Personally I am just thankful that her father readily accepted her wishes; convincing him would have been, um, anyway.” He seemed to realize he was about to spread gossip – something which he promised to never do in his oath to the priesthood – and finished rather quickly. “At any rate, I should return with all possible haste to give them your reply. I’m sure young Elizabeth will be waiting with bated breath for my return. The Lord bless you and keep you, Miss Hopps!”

 

“You as well, Father.” Judy barely had a chance to register the whole of the old goat’s words before he spun on his hoof and started bounding off again. Her ear twitched as she heard his laboured breathing start up again, but she managed to suppress the smile that was threatening to appear on her muzzle.

 

The young rabbit turned back to her path, both paws returning to their former position wrapped around the handle of the wicker basket. Her harvest had been plentiful, and Sister Margaret had readily exchanged Judy’s ginger root for lavender, some witch hazel leaves for alfalfa, and – Judy’s prize of the day – some goldenseal and moonlace for a Prickly Pear cactus, which she’d been trying to procure for months without much success.

 

Now, off to the Johnson’s house to deliver that ginseng and poppy seed tea that she had prepared for Mr. Johnson, Sr.


	2. Chapter 2

Judy returned home to find an excited young ewe standing at her door with her parents. She smiled and bowed her head in greeting. “Lord Alexander, Lady Katherine, MIss Elizabeth. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

 

“And you as well, Miss Hopps,” Lord Alexander replied. “I trust that Father Joseph has spoken with you about why we’re here?”

 

“Indeed. I would be honoured to take Miss Elizabeth on as my apprentice.”

 

“Excellent. We had hoped you would; as far as we’re concerned you’re the best healer in town.”

 

“Well thank you, my lord, though I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree with you on that point; Madame Bushtail easily has more skill than I do. Please, though, do come in.” Judy unlocked the door to her shop and led the three sheep inside.

 

“Nonsense, Miss Hopps! Your skills are exemplary. Why else would Sister Margaret accept your herbs exclusively alongside those that come from the church’s own gardens? Madame Bushtail was furious when she found out that you had begun trading with the Sisters.”

 

“My sympathy to her, then,” Judy clucked, stoking the fire. She filled a kettle from a large waterskin she had left hanging in the kitchen, and threw in a few tealeaves before hooking the kettle over the flames. She sat down across from them and arranged her skirts before speaking. “Father Joseph was fairly vague regarding the details of our arrangement. If I may, my lord, what is expected of me in this arrangement, besides the training of your daughter in the arts of the healer?”

 

“We expect you to feed and clothe her, as well as to provide her a room here with you. To this end, you will receive a stipend of 15 shillings a month. She will remain with you here until such a time as you feel she has completed her training, and then you will send her back to us. Of course, we would also expect you to ensure that she remains chaste, and that any suitors that may arrive for her are to be turned away.”

 

Judy bit her lip. “Forgive me, but I will not turn anyone away from my shop. I am here to heal, and I cannot do that if I am constantly turning away her suitors on sight. Should they come knocking, I will inform them that she is currently unavailable, but I will not turn them away unless they become pests and distractions.”

 

Lord Alexander furrowed his brow in consternation, but nodded his head nonetheless. “As long as they remain far from my daughter, I see no issue with that compromise.”

 

“Thank you for your understanding, my lord. If those are your terms, then I am fully in agreement.”

 

The ram sitting across from her nodded and pulled out a small coin purse tied with string. “This is for the first month. We will have one of our servants deliver her things later in the day.” Judy took the coin purse and tucked it into the wicker basket that was still sitting beside her.


	3. Chapter 3

They continued their small talk until the tea had boiled and both the Lord and Lady had finished their cups. Miss Elizabeth stayed behind, appearing eager to begin her training.

 

“What’s first?” The young ewe was practically bouncing in place she was so excited, and it seemed as if only the thoughts of propriety no doubt drilled into her by her parents was enough to keep her in place.

 

Judy couldn’t help but smile. Her mother’s apprentices had all been the same way when they first started. She was lucky; she’d grown up learning her craft, and so already had a knack for it despite her young age. She estimated that Miss Elizabeth – already a girl of 12, and who would likely have been married off within a few months’ time if not for her apprenticeship – would take far longer to learn the healer’s trade.

 

“Well, the first thing we need to ascertain is what knowledge you already have. Can you read?”

 

The young ewe’s smile turned almost contemptuous as she raised her nose even more. “Father says reading is a man’s job. Why would a woman ever want to concern herself with such things?”

 

The smile dropped from the grey rabbit’s muzzle. She let out a soft sigh. “Reading is very important to a healer. Sometimes we have to import ingredients from distant places, and so we need to be able to write out our orders and exactly how much we need. And then there are the times where you’ll come across a merchant with a unique recipe for a poultice or potion, and they will only sell it in the form of a written recipe to prevent every other mammal that might have heard the information to try and replicate the remedy. And then there are the numbers that you’ll have to learn…”

 

“Why would I need to learn numbers and accounts? I’ll have servants and advisors to deal with those things for me!”

 

“Not here, you won’t. Here you’ll have to do all of that yourself, and I fully expect you to help me when it comes time to do the accounts and write out any orders that I need to write.”

 

“But that’s men’s work! Or servant’s work!”

 

“Here, that’s healer’s work, and if you want to be a healer, Miss Elizabeth, you have to learn it.” Judy sighed and wracked her brain. Truth be told, she wasn’t entirely sure she should be teaching this stuff to the ewe; she’d barely learned it herself, and had on more than one occasion gone to the nuns at the church to help her with certain documents.

 

The ewe pouted, then let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. If it’s healer’s work, then I’ll learn it. When do we start?”

 

“Not right now,” Judy replied carefully. “There are other things that are more pressing at the moment. Follow me to the back room, and I’ll start teaching you about the herbs and poultices that I use to cure people.”


	4. Chapter 4

Judy and her apprentice were at the market to pick up some herbs and food for meals. Ellie, who had asked to be called that after finding out that the grey rabbit went by Judy instead of her full name of Judith, had complained the whole way. “But shopping is _servant_ ’s work!”

 

“Do you have any servants currently, Ellie?” Even Judy’s formidable patience was starting to run thin with her student’s constant attitude of noble snobbery. The young ewe had grudgingly admitted she hadn’t, and had come along with only the smallest of pouts.

 

There were whispers that week at market when they got there. People were speaking to each other in hushed tones and were glancing around nervously. They also stopped speaking if anyone approached them.

 

“See?” Ellie whined. “This is why my parents always sent the servants to the market. These people are shady!”

 

“Hush, child. If you don’t have anything nice to say, then please don’t say anything at all. The Lord may be able to hear your thoughts, but the rest of us should only help you rejoice in your pleasant pensées.” The girl pouted even more, but remained silent.

 

The two of them approached one of the merchants, a rabbit by the name of Swift. “Hello, Mister Swift,” Judy called as they approached. “How are you today?”

 

“ ‘M alright, Miss Hopps. And yourself?”

 

“I am well enough. I have no reason to complain, at least.”

 

“So you haven’t heard the news yet, then?” At Judy’s questioning look, Swift leaned in closer and murmured. “There’s a fox what’s come to Tri-burrow. A Cardinal of the Pope’s own council.”

 

Judy couldn’t help the shocked expression that beset her face. A paw flew up to her mouth to try and hide the fact that her mouth had fallen open. “A-a fox? Mister Swift, are you certain?”

 

The older rabbit nodded gravely. “Saw him go to the church myself. Nearly gave Father Joseph a heart attack, let me tell you. That ol’ bastard standing at the door with that menacing look o’ his, I don’t blame Father Joseph; if it had been me I would’ve slammed the door and threw the deadbolt.”

 

“Wh-well, that is certainly something… unusual. But if the Pope trusts him enough to take his advice as a Cardinal, then I suppose we have nothing to worry about.”

 

“But he’s a _fox_!”

 

“And a bishop of the Church,” Judy replied, finally managing to get her expression and her emotions under control. “And if foxes would like to worship our Lord, then they should be allowed to have their own among the Holy Order of the Church.”

 

“I guess you’re right,” he muttered after a moment. “Only the Lord can judge ‘em, an’ all that.” Judy nodded. “Anyway, you’re here for the usual, I’m guessing?”

 

“Yes, please.”

 

The black rabbit filled up a small burlap sack with brown sugar, and another larger one with flour and passed them to her. “That’ll be a shilling. Last one on the tab?”

 

“Two more.” Swift returned her playful smile and laughed.

 

“Ah, can you really blame me for trying? I’m a gambling man, after all.”

 

“A gambling man you are, Mister. Swift, which is why you’re still paying off the medicine that I brought you after your last game of dice.” Swift laughed again, and Judy laughed along with him for a few moments.

 

They said their goodbyes and moved on through the market. “Do you really believe that any demon foxes believe in the Lord?” Ellie asked excitedly.

 

“Of course. And they’re not demons. Foxes are mammals too, and they deserve the respect that we would show to any other mammals.”

 

“But why? Foxes are _evil!_ ”

 

“No mortal creature is wholly evil. Some mammals may do horrible things, but that does not mean that every mammal of that group will do the same.”

 

“It is heartening to hear your kind thoughts, madame. Not all mammals in these parts are as… open-minded as yourself.” Judy could barely suppress the shudders that the deep, cold voice called up. She _knew_ that voice, dripping with arrogance and predatory contempt, even if she hadn’t heard it since she was a little girl.

 

She turned slowly, fighting the instincts that weighed down her feet like iron chains, that told her to _run! Hide! The fox is going to eat you! He’s going to kill you! Just like he did with—!_ She silenced the thoughts and pushed herself to turn around and look the taller creature in the eye.

 

Staring down at her were chilling alabaster eyes, eyes that spoke of conviction, hunger, and _passion_. Not like the passion of men in battle, nor the passion of lovers in bed, but the fervent passion of the mad. The russet fur ruffled loosely around the collar of the blood-red robes from which he drew his title. It marked a sharp contrast to his black lips, and yellowed fangs that were just visible between them.

 

“C-Cardinal. I didn’t know you were there.”

 

“Yes, I doubt you did. Which is why it touches my heart all the more that these are your thoughts.” It seemed to Judy for a moment as if the fox’s eyes became even more cruel, as if he was trying to devour her soul. For all her trying, she couldn't meet his eyes.

 

Then he threw his head back and laughed, drawing eyes from all over the square, and the spell was broken, and when he looked back at her she simply saw the kind eyes and kinder smile that you might find upon the visage of any other priest.

 

“Forgive me, madame, if I startled you. It was not my intention. I simply had to express my thanks for your kind words; the Lord only knows that they have not been common these past years.” He gave her a small bow and another smile. “Please, do not allow me to deter you any longer from the tasks with which you are otherwise engaged. I bid you a good day and look forward o making your acquaintance more in the future.”

 

“O-of course, Cardinal. The Lord be with you.”

 

“And you as well.”

 

The fox stepped out around her and continued down the street, leaving Judy silently staring after him, her amethyst eyes wide and her ears draped down her back in shock, while her apprentice chattered and bounced around her excitedly.


	5. Chapter 5

Judy was cautious that night as she left out the back door, a black woollen travelling cloak wrapped around her to ward off the chill, her ears pressed flat under the hood and a cowl covering her features so that the only thing that was visible was the slight luminescence of her amethyst eyes.

 

She made her way through the silent village, careful to keep to the shadows so that she wouldn’t be seen by any late-night tavern-goers. It was certainly suspicious, but she felt confident that no one would recognize her if she kept her eyes downcast.

 

As always, the final stretch past the hunter’s compound at the far edge of the village was the hardest and the most anxiety inducing, but her moonlace perfume helped disguise her scent enough that none of the wolves even stirred from their beds.

 

As soon as she’d disappeared into the trees she could feel the tension drop out of her shoulders. Since meeting the old fox Cardinal Gideon Grey earlier that day, she had been stiff as the prairie dog twins when the hyena girls got into a bad mood. The teeming forest of tall pines, watcher oaks and sugar maples made her feel safe in the way that few other things did.

 

She continued through the forest until the reached the gnarled trunk of an ancient pine with crystallized sap leaking from every knot. There, she turned off the path along a small game trail and followed it for a good twenty paces and down along the edge of a small ravine. When she got to the bottom, she left the path and entered into a cave dug out of the earth.

 

Just inside the entrance she pulled a beeswax candle, a piece of flint and a steel dagger that had belonged to her father from the pouch at her waist and lit the candle. While she knew the terrain of this particular tunnel like the back of her paw after so many years of coming here, she was always cautious; you never could tell when some form of reptile would decide to take up residence in the dugout, or when branches and other things might have blown or fallen in from outside.

 

After a good twenty minutes of walking through twists and turns, the dirt turned to polished stone, and after a dozen more the tunnel began to reflect the light of the moon coming in from the chamber ahead. Judy quickened her pace, excited to reach her destination.

 

The tunnel opened suddenly into a stone chamber large enough to easily accommodate a pair of buffalos standing shoulder to shoulder. At one end was a statue of a polecat with three faces, hands cupped out in front of her. A pair of crossed torches were planted in the ground at her feet. Above the statue was a small opening in the stone through which rays of moonlight poured.

 

Judy approached silently, removing her hood and cowl as she went. She lifted her candle to each reed torch in turn and ignited them. Then she pulled from the pouch at her waist a dagger and a pair of moonlace blossoms. Though the herb had a lot of medicinal properties and was difficult to grow, she felt absolutely no shame or hesitation in using the two flowers as an offering. She placed both items in the statue’s cupped paws and sat down to wait until the beams of moonlight moved to shine onto the offering Judy had left.

 

“O Lady Hecate, goddess of magic, master of the mystic arts, patron to those that practice them,” Judy prayed once the light was reflecting off the polished blade of the dagger. “I kneel before you as your humble servant and offer myself to you in mind, body, heart, and soul. I beg that you continue to grant me the powers that I now possess, as you have for all the members of my family since the ancient days of Ioxus, grandson of Theseus of Athens.”

 

Judy thought she heard a small hum from the statue, but couldn't be certain.

 

“For better or worse, through thick and thin, I shall remain forever a protector of your sacred teachings, and guard your shrine with my life and all the powers that you might grant me.”

 

Judy stayed in her position for several minutes, continuing her silent prayer, until finally she pulled herself to her feet and retrieved her dagger. She lit her candle once again by off the torches before taking the moonlace and dropping one flower onto each torch. The flowers ignited and produced a sweet scent.

 

The grey rabbit returned the way she’d come, navigating carefully through the woods and back into the village.


	6. Chapter 6

It was late the next day, when Judy was almost ready to close up shop for the evening. She was in the process of giving Ellie a lesson on the proper way to grind up different parts of a plant when she heard the bells at the door jingle. She left her apprentice with instructions to continue practicing on the long grasses she’d collected from among the weeds in her garden as she went to deal with the customer.

 

Just as it had the previous day with the sudden appearance of the Cardinal, the sight of the fox standing on the other side of the counter sent her mind into a small panic. She marshalled her emotions before they could appear on her face and approached from the doorway.

 

The larger mammal didn’t seem to notice her until she stood at the counter and cleared her throat. His large emerald eyes had been wandering the shop, taking in every detail. Almost of its own accord, his paws seemed to be scribbling notes on a small notebook of bound parchment, using, she noted, one of her own bottles of ink from the counter.

 

“Ahem.” The eyes snapped to her and the paw stopped its motion mid-scrawl. As opposed to the older fox whom she’d met yesterday, this young creature was a handsome devil, with thickly gleaming copper fur blending carefully with the cream of his throat and the burnished tips of his ears.

 

“Madam,” he smiled, baring fangs of a gleaming white. He snapped the notebook shut and replaced it in a pocket of his trousers before extending the paw that had clasped it towards her. She eyes it carefully before extending her own and shaking it. “May I assume that you are the healer Hopps?”

 

“Herbalist is more like, though I end up doing both for those that are not keen to pay Madame Bushtail’s exorbitant fees. But yes. And you are?”

 

“Nicholas Wilde, scholar by nature, tailor by trade.” She examined him more closely and noted that while his clothing seemed worn, it was all in good repair, and any patches that had been added were done tastefully and had been blended well. “Perhaps we might be able to sit for a while and chat? Over a cup of tea, maybe? I’ll provide it, of course, as well as any snacks we may wish to consume.”

 

“I thank you for the offer, Mister Wilde, but I’m afraid I cannot accept right now. The sun is near setting, and I have an apprentice to train in the arts of the healer.”

 

“Oh, right. Forgive me. I’ve been travelling on my own for some time, and the schedules of diurnal mammals seem to have eluded my memory.” All throughout their exchange, he kept that carefree, cocky smile on his face, and with his last statement, he pitched his voice to match. It set her on edge, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to care. Listening to the warm tenor of his voice was soothing her nerves, causing the fur on the nape of her neck to lie flat. It was a strange thrill, having this fox stand so close to her – and not be trying to kill her.

 

“Is there anything else I can help you with today, Mister Wilde?”

 

He chuckled, and her ears raised from their normal laid-back position. “Besides a tonic to slake my thirst for knowledge? I don’t think so, though I would enjoy taking that tea with you at a later time. I would be interested in hearing more about your craft. Are you free tomorrow?”

 

Judy considered for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mister Wilde, but the only day that I would truly be free to share tea with you would be on Sunday, after church. It is the one day that I am not, in some form or another, engaged in my craft.”

 

The fox seemed to deflate slightly, but his smile never changed and he accepted her words without question. “Thank you, Miss Hopps. I look forward to speaking more with you then.” He bowed slightly, then turned on his heel and made for the door.

 

Before he had the chance to leave her shop, she snapped herself out of the sudden fascination she’d found with his long bushy tail and called out. “Mister Wilde!” He turned to look at her, the curiosity in his eyes the only betraying factor in his otherwise perfectly martialled expression. “Of what do you consider yourself a scholar?”

 

The smile widened, revealing even more gleaming teeth than before. “I pursue the study of witches and the concept of witchcraft. But we can discuss that more on Sunday. Good day, Miss Hopps.”

 

Judy could barely keep the fear out of her face as the fox turned and left her shop.


	7. Chapter 7

That week seemed to move agonizingly slowly for Judy, and she had never been more thankful for pain in her life. Her acquiescence to Wilde’s offer for tea had been more of a courtesy than any actual desire to converse with the fox, and yet now she found herself trapped in an engagement with a fox that was looking into something forbidden by the church, and for which people had been burned at the stake.

 

And yet, despite her prayers that time would move slowly so she could avoid having to face the fox again, Sunday dawned for her like the first frost of winter: cold and unexpected, but inevitable nonetheless.

 

They ate a light breakfast, and as soon as she was finished, Ellie raced back up the stairs to her room to change into her Sunday Best. Judy dressed more slowly, and found the young ewe waiting for her impatiently by the door to the little shop. She couldn’t help but smile at the expression plastered above the black satin that the sheep wore, and smoothed down her own satin gown of midnight blue to help hide her amusement.

 

The service that week was nice; Father Joseph was an insightful old goat, and waxed eloquently about the gifts of God that they would reap this harvest season. They sung their hymns, said their prayers, exchanged blessings and partook of Holy Communion. Afterwards, everyone gathered in the church’s Great Hall for the monthly communal luncheon. The local baker and butcher each paid their tithes to the church with their produce once a month, which provided everyone with one free meal taken all together in the House of the Lord.

 

Judy was quick to notice the absence of Wilde from the congregation and remained curious as to whether that implied she was freed from her engagement with him by some strange twist of fate. Of course, Cardinal Gideon was very visible, in a position of obvious power seated next to Father Joseph at the High Table. Even when the two were engaged in conversation, the rabbit noticed that the fox’s grey eyes were constantly roving over the crowds assembled before him. She shuddered and turned back to her meal.

 

Once the food had all been consumed, and thanks had been offered to the Lord for his blessings (and thanks to the butcher and the baker for the actual food from their shops), the crowd began to mingle and disperse. Judy, still dreading the promise of tea with the younger fox but still somehow drawn to fulfill her obligation and not disappoint the young scholar, tried not to dawdle too long before she started tracking down her apprentice.

 

Instead, however, she found the young ewe’s parents. She noticed that Lord Alexander had a brass pocket watch in hoof whose chain led back to the inside of the ram’s jacket. It was a subtle reminder to her (and probably to him as well) that he had once been a farmer, and was only now the way he was because of his service to Prince Richard V during the prince’s travels to the new world.

 

“Miss Hopps,” he said, looking up as she approached. “Excellent. We were just wondering if you’d left already. How is our daughter doing?”

 

“She is well, my lord,” Judy replied honestly. “Her training goes apace, though some of the more menial tasks seem to rub her wool the wrong way at times.”

 

The ram let out a snort. “Menial tasks build character and patience. You never see a farmer harvest his crop before it’s time. It’s all because he knows how to wait for the seasons to change!”

 

“Just so, my lord,” Judy replied with a faint smile. “And after his sermon today, I’m sure Father Joseph would agree. It seems he’s headed this way.” The arrival of the old goat, accompanied by the Cardinal seemed to distract the Lord and Lady enough that they forgot all about Judy, and she was left to go collect her apprentice and be off.

 

They arrived back at her shop only to find Nicholas Wilde waiting for them at the door. Judy’s hopes of being freed from her promise were dashed, but she was more than careful to not let it show through in her expression. “Mister Wilde. I didn’t see you in church this morning.”

 

“Not a big surprise there,” he replied. “I was excommunicated several years ago following the church’s discovery that I believed in witchcraft and was determined to pursue my studies into the concept and the cults. I haven’t been back since, nor do I regret it. There’s something a little too shifty about the whole thing for me to readily trust in it – especially that Cardinal Gideon Grey.”

 

“You believe in witchcraft?” Ellie exclaimed. “I knew foxes were evil, but you just seem stupid!”

 

“Hush, Ellie!” Judy admonished with a scowl. “I’ve told you before to keep your negative thoughts between yourself and the Lord only. No one else should hear vile tripe such as that, especially not about themselves. I am so very sorry, Mister Wilde,” she added, turning back to the fox. “Normally she isn’t like this.”

 

He waved it off as if Ellie’s words had no power to hurt him, but something about the way he’d plastered his face with a mask spoke to the opposite. “Not to worry, Miss Hopps. I take no offence. If I had, I probably would have quit long ago and been allowed to return to the church. Though perhaps we should bring this conversation inside? There are too many sensitive ears in these parts for my liking.”

 

“Of-of course, Mister Wilde.” Judy unlocked the door to her shop and invited him inside. As she had for Ellie’s parents, she filled a kettle with water and set it over the fire to boil, throwing in a handful of tealeaves despite the fox’s protests.

 

“Miss Hopps, I did promise that I would supply the tea for our discussion.”

 

“Then repay me with dried tealeaves when you may, Mister Wilde, if you so insist. But for now, you are a guest in my house and I would extend the same hospitality to you as to any other guest.”

  
“Then why have you never made tea for me?” Ellie asked. Wilde couldn’t help the natural grin that broke his mask, but Judy just sighed at the obvious attempt to needle her mentor, something that she seemed inordinately fond of doing.

 

“Because you live here as my apprentice and may call this shop home just as much as you might the abode of your parents. Therefore you are no guest in this dwelling. Now, have you completed all your chores?”

 

“Yes, Judy. They were all finished last night?”

 

“Well in that case I wouldn’t want to keep you from your plans any longer. Though I might suggest changing out of your Sunday Best before you go gallivanting about however you may.”

 

The young ewe looked affronted. “I do not _gallivant!_ I’m a lady, and I walk accordingly!”

 

“Then stroll through your plans as you may, though I might still suggest changing first.”

 

“But we have guests! It would be impolite for me to change my clothing with a guest in the house, and improper for a lady to be so revealing! What if someone were to see me?”

 

“If you suppose he can see you through the boards above our heads and through the walls, then what makes you think it is any less likely that he is able to see through your clothes right at this moment?” An alarmed expression crossed her face and she moved her arms to cover up what was clearly concealed. Judy just sighed. “Foxes do not have the ability to see through objects, Ellie – or clothing, for that matter. But do what you will, just don’t stay here.”

 

The ewe considered her words carefully for a few moments before scampering off up the stairs. She heard a door shut and the sound of fabric hitting the floor. Judy turned back to the fox, who wore an amused expression and looked positively at ease sitting on the wooden chair with his legs crossed at the ankles and one arm draped across the back.

 

The kettle started to boil and Judy poured them both a mug of tea. She blew on hers for a few moments before taking a sip. “So, Mister Wilde. Now that we are more or less alone, what did you want to discuss?”

 

He dropped all pretence of aloofness and leaned forward with intent in his eyes and a wicked grin upon his muzzle. For a moment, she was reminded of the Cardinal, but then the moment passed and she shook herself slightly to dispel the lingering image. “Why, Miss Hopps, I would like to discuss witchcraft.”

 

“Forgive me, Mister Wilde, but I’m afraid that you seem to be confusing the arts of a healer with those of a witch, who more than likely don’t exist. Why would a healer know anything about witchcraft, especially a Christian one such as myself?”

 

“Ah, Madame Bushtail was of the same opinion as I was discussing this with her earlier this week. She seemed to be particularly affronted that I had even dared to ask the question in the first place.”

 

“I can understand why,” Judy replied carefully, choosing her next words uneasily. “Witches in these parts tend not to live very long; even those who are accused can be hanged or burned at the stake without much of a trial, and certainly not a fair one.”

 

“Others have mentioned the same, though they wouldn't go into specifics. Perhaps you could tell me why?”

 

“Twelve years ago, several people were accused of witchcraft in the town of Salem and were burned at the stake for these accusations,” she said eventually, hating herself for every word that she let slip from between her lips. “The only proof they had was the word of Cardinal Gideon, but for the church in Salem, that was enough. 20 people were killed that day, and almost 200 more sat in the town’s prison cells for days on end without food or water, waiting for their chance to plead their case in front of the Church. Not all of them survived.”

 

Wilde had gone from looking excited to a much more serious expression that made him look far older than she had first assumed. It was flattering on his features, in a way that Judy found inexplicably endearing. She gave herself a mental shake and forced herself to focus on the fox across from her.

 

“So all the witches in the area were wiped out, then.” It wasn’t a question, but Judy nodded assent regardless. Wilde moved back in his chair, the tea all but forgotten as he balanced it on his knee. “And now everyone is afraid of any kind of accusations because of what happened to all the others who were accused…”

 

“That is correct.”

 

“Would it be safe to assume that everyone is even more on edge now because of Cardinal Gideon? I mean, I would assume from the murmurs I’ve heard in the local tavern that his presence here is not particularly welcome.”

 

Judy took a sip of her tea to give her time to gather her thoughts. If she answered him, she’d be treading on dangerous ground across which she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to tread. But if she didn’t give him an answer, it would be found out elsewhere and might make her look suspicious. _Hecate guide me,_ she thought before lowering her mug and cupping it in her hands.

 

A creak in the floorboards reminded her that Ellie was still upstairs, and from the sound of it, was listening intently. Momentarily forgetting her guest in the sudden spike of irritation she felt towards her apprentice, she stood up and began to shout. “Ellie! You get down here right now!” The ewe came slinking down the stairs a few moments later, obviously fearing whatever punishment Judy would try to level at her. “It is rude to snoop, and ruder still to eavesdrop! Hasn’t your mother taught you all of these things? For all your talk of being a lady of distinction, you certainly are acting the part of a gutter rat taking advantage of the goodwill of a kind stranger.”

 

Judy saw a look of hurt cross the ewe’s face at her words, and felt a twist of remorse in her gut. She sighed and before Ellie had the chance to respond, she added in a softer tone, “All I ask is that you have the courtesy and respect due to me as your teacher. I’m not doing this for the money; I’m doing it for you. Please remember that.”

 

The ewe hung her head in shame and nodded slowly. Taking pity on her, Judy went over and embraced the young mammal who was already the rabbit’s own height. “You should be out enjoying your day off; as the winter approaches, you’ll be getting less and less of the days where you’ll be able to go and enjoy the sunshine and the warmth, and fewer and fewer days where you’ll be able to lounge around and do whatever you will. Go, and I’ll have supper ready for you at your return.”

 

“Thank you, Judy. I’m sorry I was listening. No one has ever talked about anything to do with witches before, and I guess I was curious. I promise I won’t do it anymore.” The ewe gave her a brief hug in return and made her way to the front of the shop. Judy heard the bell tinkle twice as the door was opened and closed, and the rabbit and the fox were left in silence.

 

Judy returned to her seat wearily and took another long draught of her tea. “I’m sorry, Mister Wilde. I completely lost my train of thought.”

 

“It’s quite alright, Miss Hopps. And please, call me Nick.”

 

“Thank you Nick. Likewise, you may call me Judy.”

 

The fox grinned at her. “Now, where were we, Judy? Speaking of the Cardinal?”

 

The forlorn scowl returned to her face, and almost instantly Nick’s expression changed to reflect her own. “Cardinal Gideon… was the one who presided over the trials, and it was him that began pursuing the witches in the first place… but I don’t believe that is common knowledge. Any uneasy murmurings are more for the fact that… well…”

 

“The fact that he’s a fox, prowling among the homes of prey animals.” Judy nodded uncomfortably, and Nick let out a sigh. “It figures. Do not be afraid to offend me with this information Judy; I am well aware of what people think of foxes. Especially the Cardinal.”

 

“You sound as if you have met him before.”

 

“Perhaps,” he evaded, but then at her questioning look, he seemed to relent a little bit. “The Cardinal is just as obsessed with witches and witchcraft as I am – but in an entirely different way. While I seek them out purely for my academia, he seeks them out because he wants to punish destroy all of them. As a result, I tend to clash with him a fair amount. He seems to pop up quite frequently wherever I go to perform my research, and I take it as a sign that I’m in the right place whenever he does.”

 

“You think there is a coven of witches in Tri-burrows?” Judy’s question barely escaped on a whispered breath, and almost immediately she wished she could withdraw her query, but knew instantly that Nick had heard her by the intensity of his gaze upon her face.

 

“No, a coven would be too noticeable. But I believe that there _is_ a witch here in this town, or possibly even two or three. And you, Judith Hopps, as a healer, an herbalist and an apothecary, are just as much a suspect at this time as Madame Bushtail, or even your young apprentice.”

 

“Wh-what! That is preposterous! Ellie… Elizabeth is only 12 years old! How could she possibly be a witch? And as for myself and Madame Bushtail…!”

 

“Why else would her noble parents send her to you to train in the arts of a healer, a gruesome and thankless job at the best of times? Why would they want their damsel of a daughter exposed to sickness and disease, to rotting flesh and dying men and madness, if it were not a pretence to train her in the arcane arts of the goddess Hecate?”

 

“Hecate?” Judy froze momentarily, focusing unnaturally on the fox’s face. His ears fell back in puzzlement at her expression. “Hecate is a goddess of the antiquated savagery of the Hellespont. Perhaps in the Old World along the Mediterranean Sea, you might find a person who believed in such fictions, but here in Moosechussets?”

 

“You know, Judy,” Nick stated, apparently ignoring her words, “not many people in this town can afford perfume unless they make it themselves. Few of those who do make perfume have access to the fresh moonlace from which a scent can be extracted. And yet the other night, I had the curious fortune of stumbling upon a distinctly lagomorphic scent moving off into the woods, partially masked by the scent of moonlace. The hunters in their camp said the scent trail appeared every full moon. A powerful time for magic, the full moon.”

 

“Are you implying something, Mister Wilde?”

 

“I have heard, Miss Hopps, that you grow moonlace in your garden, and have on multiple occasions traded it to Sister Margaret from the Church for other medicinal herbs. And your abode is currently mired in the same mixture of scents – with the addition of the smell of wool – as the trail I followed the other night. Do you know where that trail led?”

 

“I have not the slightest clue, Mister Wilde, but I have a feeling that you were planning on informing me regardless of my response.”

 

The fox seemed unperturbed by her words and carried on heedless. “I followed that scent trail straight to a shrine to the goddess Hecate – and then I followed it back here.”

 

“And you assume that that scent _has_ to be me, and could not have been someone who decided to pluck a flower or two from my garden to deliberately confuse the scents, do you?”

 

“I make no assumptions, Miss Hopps. And believe me when I say that I am absolutely certain that you are a—“

 

The sound of the bell chiming from the front of the shop caused them both to stop, and Judy realized with a start that they were both standing. Casting disdainful look at Nick, Judy smoothed her ruffled skirts and made her way to the front of the shop.

 

“Cardinal Gideon,” Judy said, offering the fox a faint smile though her racing heart told her to flee before the predator in front of her decided she would look good roasting over a fire. “How might I be of service?”

 

“Good day, Miss Hopps,” the older fox replied. Judy noticed that his nose was twitching. “Forgive my interruption; I understand young Mister Wilde is in the back room currently. He seems fairly agitated about something; it wouldn’t have anything to do with his usual ramblings on witchcraft, now would it?”

 

“No, my lord,” Judy replied lightly. “Just a rather agitated rash that has appeared at the base of his tail. He asked me if I had anything that could help sooth it or cure it.”

 

“It seems rather uncouth for a young man to be removing his trousers for someone of the same age but the opposite sex, even if they are of different species.” Judy just shrugged.

 

“Well if the nuns at the Church had actually bothered to take a look at it in the first place, I wouldn’t be here right now!” Nick shouted from the back room, his voice pitched so it sounded in pain.

 

“Mister Wilde! Such a long time since I have seen you! Perhaps you would care to come speak with me face to face?”

 

“I would, Cardinal, but I do believe that my rash has started to ooze puss, and I can’t quite pull my trousers up at the moment. If you would like to come observe the processes of Miss Hopps, I’m sure she would have no issue, but even from what I can smell, it is not a sight for the faint of heart!” A light breeze accompanied his words, and upon it was a scent so disgusting it made even Judy wrinkle her nose.

 

The older fox couldn’t seem to prevent the grimace that stretched his lips and forced him to rub furiously at the tip of his muzzle with both paws. “No thank you, Mister Wilde. I shall trust that you are in good hands with Miss Hopps here and perhaps I shall speak to you at another time… when you are feeling better.” The Cardinal turned to leave, barely managing to bid her a good day before he bolted back outside.

 

Judy returned to the back room, where she watched as Nick was dusting off his paws over the fireplace. An acrid stench was coming from the flames, which had turned a violent purple. She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. “A type of oriental tea I discovered in a bazaar to the east of the Mediterranean sea. High concentrations of potassium. It was the tea I was planning on providing for our exchange today.”

 

“You’re lucky I recognize the smell of burning plants – and that the Cardinal didn’t. If he had, we both would have been caught in the act.”

 

“Come now, Judy,” Nick replied with a devilish grin. “We haven’t even started the act yet, though it was a brilliant suggestion for me to show you the base of my tail…”

 

The wink he directed at her forced a flush to her cheeks and ears so fierce she felt they were practically glowing. The flames spiked around the kettle, reacting to her agitation. Thankfully Wilde was facing her and not the fire, otherwise there would be no denying his allegations. She took a deep breath and sighed.

 

“Boorish, Mister Wilde. I would appreciate it if you did _not_ to insinuate that I am anything but a good, God-fearing Christian woman, just like every other rabbit, sheep, goat, and wolf in this town.”

 

“As you wish, Miss Hopps.” The fox bowed to her mockingly, never allowing the cocky smile of his mask to escape her sight as he did so.


	8. Chapter 8

The next few weeks passed quickly as Judy had to instruct her apprentice on the _correct_ method of creating poultices, and that there was _absolutely_ a difference between a poultice and an ointment, and that neither was quite the same as a tincture, and that medicines were _not just boiled plants all poured together_. This, on top of the usual barrage of accidents incurred while harvesting the crops from all the farms close to the town – a job in which the whole village participated, regardless of their occupation (except for the healers and the priests and nuns, of course). It was during this time that Judy was thankful that she wasn’t the only healer for the whole village.

 

Another thing to worry about was the resident Advisor to the Pope. Cardinal Gideon Grey never stopped poking his nose into everyone’s business, and had people constantly on edge with his late-night “walks” that were far too predatory for anyone in town to be comfortable with them. On multiple occasions, Judy overhead people complaining to Father Joseph about their fears, but the old goat wasn’t able to do anything. Judy knew that it would only cause more malaise if the townspeople found out about the pale-eyed creature’s true intent of routing out witches, and his sinister past that saw so many of their relatives imprisoned or killed.

 

And of course, there was the small matter of Nicholas Wilde. He played up the story of the ‘rash at the base of his tail’ that she’d concocted and used it at every given opportunity as an excuse to visit her shop and pester her. Thankfully he had the wherewithal not to discuss any of his theories about her in public – or around her apprentice – but his constant visits had tongues wagging.

 

The last straw was when Father Joseph confronted her about the rumours when she went in for confession. “Miss Hopps, I know I’m not supposed to do this,” he began, “but please understand that I mean only the best when I ask this. Is there… something happening between you and the young Mister Wilde?”

 

“Absolutely nothing, Father,” Judy replied in an uncharacteristically flat tone. She was _sick_ and _tired_ of people asking her that question everywhere she went. She took a deep breath and continued. “Forgive me. It has become frustrating to be the heart of the town gossip, especially when there are so many things that I need to do. Mister Wilde frequents my shop so often because he seems to believe that I have some God-given powers to heal him of his… condition, but that I am holding back for whatever reason.”

 

“Are you?”

 

Judy shook her head and took another deep breath. “No, Father. I personally believe that he is just not applying the ointment that I gave him in the proper manner, and I refuse to apply it for him while he has full use of his own paws.”

 

“That is… understandable. I hope he does not present any unfortunate images to your apprentice.”

 

“So far he has avoided displaying anything while she is around – mostly, I have her working with the herbs and oils that I have come to possess while I deal with Mister Wilde.”

 

“The Lord thanks you for your help in preserving her innocence and modesty… and I’m sure her father does, as well.”

 

Judy nodded, though she knew the old goat on the other side of the wall couldn’t see her. “Father, on the subject of Mister Wilde, there is something else I would like to confess.” She could hear Father Joseph shifting in his seat before he murmured encouragement for her to continue. “The second time he came into my shop, as I was examining him, he began to tell me about his… research. He has undertaken on this project, and it is a project for which he has suffered a great deal in the eyes of the Lord.” Judy swallowed hard before continuing. “And as part of this research, he discovered something about Cardinal Gideon… something which matches up with my own knowledge of the Cardinal from when I was young…”

 

Judy fought back the visions that crowded behind her eyelids as she squeezed them tightly, clasping her paws together in such a rigid grip she was half-afraid she would shatter her knuckles. The secret she’d kept for so long… it stuck in her throat as her memories waged war with her mind, fighting to be freed while the panic which enthralled her rational mind tried desperately to push it back. Right now, the memories were winning – but she was being forced to experience them all over again as they played through her mind.

 

_It was dark. Her mother had ushered her out of bed and quickly slid her out of her nightclothes and into clothes for travelling. Her brother’s tunic, her brother’s breeches. A travelling cloak she’d made for him when he was younger and an old fish-leather belt that had been passed down in their family for generations. Judy had complained heavily the whole time, but her mother kept her quiet as the two of them, dressed so similarly Judy could be a miniature of the older rabbit, made their way out the back door and to the fish paddock that bordered their garden. On the edges, hidden by the rushes, was a young rabbit dressed all in black to match his fur. Judy and her mother fell into step beside this rabbit, and they walked and walked and walked._

_It was near sunrise when the screaming began. It was horrible to listen to, and Judy had instantly covered her ears and cried out in distress. Her mother had shushed her, but it was already too late. From among the tall grasses and the warm sheaves of wheat that bordered the path they took sprang a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand soldiers, soldiers so numerous Judy couldn’t count them. Their ranks were made up of all different kinds of mammals – but the one that truly caught Judy’s attention was the tall one, with russet fur and alabaster eyes that gazed down at her with a deep, predatory hunger._

_Judy didn’t remember how it happened. She didn’t remember the fierce fight that was put up by her mother and the black rabbit. She didn’t remember how every single soldier that fell, stood back up and turned on their comrades, how the moon shone bright and full, how the sky lit up with hues of green and bright blue and pinkish-purple. She didn’t remember the black rabbit picking her up and running with her, running with her off into the night, away from the fighting, away from the fox – and most importantly, away from her mother. She had to be informed of all that later, when she was older and she could handle it._

_All she remembered was a bright flash of light, screams of fear, and then absolute silence in the frigid light of the Maiden’s Moon._

 

“Miss Hopps!”

 

“Wh-what?” She was aware of a loud sound echoing in the wooden box within which she was kneeling. It was only a moment before she realized it was her own.

 

“Your breathing became erratic. I was afraid you were going to pass out.”

 

“I-I’m sorry, Father. I… I think I might have been under the influence of some form of hysteria or hallucination for a moment there.” Judy swallowed audibly, though she could barely hear it over the pounding of her heart.

 

“Are you sure you’re well, my dear?”

 

“I… I don’t think it is anything to worry about, Father; I have not been getting as much sleep as I am used to these past few weeks, what with the stress of training an apprentice, and the harvest season… I think I just need some rest.”

 

“Alright. Please, though, don’t hesitate to send someone to fetch either Madame Bushtail or Sister Margaret if you feel your condition worsen; the village would be far worse off without you.”

 

“Of course, Father. The Lord be with you.”

 

“And with you, Miss Hopps.”

 

Of course, Judy knew exactly what had caused her flashbacks, but she wasn’t about to admit that to the old priest. She quickly made her way out of the church and back home, silently praying that she did not run into either Nicholas Wilde or the rapacious older fox that she realized now she despised, else she might just commit an ungodly act and pray that no one ever found the body.


	9. Chapter 9

Thankfully, it was not until that Sunday that Judy encountered either fox again. Unfortunately, it could not have been under worse circumstances.

 

She was seated at the table of Lord Alexander, Ellie’s father. He’d invited them both to dine with him in celebration of his birthday. Much of his family was there, as was his wife’s, and a few of the prominent townsfolk, including Father Joseph. The meal was a grand one, and in no time at all they were moving through the second and third courses, and then on to the dessert.

 

Judy was halfway through eating a large piece of carrot cake frosted with a rich and sugary cream icing, when a servant suddenly appeared at her elbow. “Pardon me, Miss,” the young ram bleated. “There’s someone at the door for you, says it’s urgent that you speak with him at once.”

 

Judy looked forlornly at the half-piece of her carrot cake that was left before sighing and excusing herself from the table. She followed the ram to the main doors, where the black rabbit Mister Swift was practically bouncing on his heels as he waited for her.

 

“Miss Hopps! Thank goodness I found you!”

 

“What’s happened, Mister Swift?”

 

“It’s that fox friend of yours – Mister Wilde, was he? He’s gone and got himself shot!”

 

 _“He WHAT?!”_ Judy’s exclamation drew the attention of the guests that were cooling themselves in the breeze of the foyer, including Lord Alexander himself. Judy braced herself with a long, deep breath, then snagged up her cloak from the servant who had brought it out for her. “If that flea-brain has gotten himself… I’m sorry, my lord, but I must leave at once. There’s been an attack.”

 

“It wasn’t that blasted fox in red, was it?”

 

“No, my lord,” Swift interjected. “It was a farmer down from the north come to town to drink with his cousins. Took one look at Mister Wilde, pulled his firearm and with a bang and a flash, the fox was on the ground bleedin’ out. Us an’ some of his mates got him taken care of, and Sister Sarah has the weapon now, but Mister Wilde’s insisting on being treated by no one else but Miss Hopps.”

 

“If he dies because he’s too stubborn to accept the treatment of whoever got there first, the Lord help his soul… Ellie! Are you going to come along?”

 

The ewe was at Judy’s side in an instant, a frock two sizes two big draped down over her nice clothes with a cotton cloak thrown atop that. “I’m ready when you are, Judy.” She gave her father a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, and the two followed the black rabbit back towards the village.

 

“We brought him to your shop since he wouldn’t let anyone touch him but you,” Swift said, barely out of breath though they were moving at a pace that Judy found hard to match. “Door is probably locked, I’m guessing, so hopefully we’ll get there before they do.”

 

As it turned out, the two groups arrived at the exact same time. Judy was quick to notice the shallow and uneven breathing patterns of the fox, who’d been transported on a sturdy wooden board. Judy unlocked the door and ushered the litter-bearers inside before following with Ellie and Mister Swift.

 

“Ellie, go put the kettle on and fetch some clean bandages from the storeroom. Once the water is boiling, pour it into a basin and bring it and the bandages over to the kitchen table. While you’re waiting for the water to boil run down to the cellar and get some ginseng, goldenseal, alfalfa and tobacco and bring it to me, please. Mister Smith, please run and fetch Volume Thirty-Five from the shelf in my bedroom. Jonathan, Hadrian, put him down on the kitchen table. Gently!”

 

The four mammals sprang to comply with her orders. As gently as they could, the two burly goats rolled the unconscious fox onto the table so he was flat on his back. Without hesitation, Judy grabbed a dagger from Jonathan’s waist and used it to cut open Nick’s shirt.

 

Under the leather, it was painfully obvious where the bullet hole was. Judy thanked the Lord and she thanked Hecate that the fool who shot the pistol had been drunk when he did it, because if his aim had been even halfway decent, she wouldn’t have been able to save the fox’s life. As it was, though the wound wasn’t fatal in and of itself, it was close enough to too many vital organs for her to be able to let it fester.

 

“Ellie!” The ewe was beside her in a moment, and within seconds her eyes were saucers as she beheld the blood matting the copper fur and slowly pooling onto the table. “Did you get the herbs?”

 

Obviously shocked, the girl handed them over. “What are we gonna do?”

 

“I need you to go and get my knitting needles from the living room. Never mind the bandages and the boiling water now, I’ll get one of these two to do it for me.” Ellie disappeared back the way she’d come. “Hadrian, go look after the kettle for me. You heard my instructions to Ellie before?” The goat nodded. “Good. Follow the ones concerning the bandages. Jonathan, I need you to run over to Madame Bushtail’s and tell her I need a tincture of moth silk, and that I’ll pay her for it as soon as I don’t have to save someone’s hide.” The other goat nodded and trotted out the door.

 

Ellie came back at just that moment, a pair of bone knitting needles in hand. Judy instructed her on how to make the necessary poultice for the wound using the materials from the cellar, and the young ewe set to work. Judy waited impatiently for Hadrian to come back in with the basin of boiling water, and as soon as he did, she plunged the tips of the knitting needles into it. A hiss could be heard escaping the surface.

 

“Boil those bandages that Ellie fetched from the store room. Mister Swift, put the book down on the counter and hold Wilde steady. What I’m about to do is going to hurt.”

 

The black rabbit did as instructed, and Judy plunged the knitting needles into the wound, searching for the bullet. The fox writhed on the table, and Judy called urgently for Hadrian to help secure the flailing limbs. She never stepped back, just continued her work.

 

After what felt like an eternity, she finally located the bullet and pulled it out as quickly as she could. Ellie came over with the poultice, and then grabbed a bowl as she noticed Jonathan come running back into the room with a vile of silvery liquid in hoof.

 

“Pour the tincture into the bowl,” Judy commanded. “Ellie, I need you to grab a fire poker, poke it into the coals, and when it’s glowing bring it back here.” Judy grabbed the tincture and started pouring it little by little into the wound. Ellie came back a few seconds later and handed Judy the poker. “Everyone, hold him down. His body will react strongly to this.” When everyone had moved into place, Judy thrust the glowing poker into the fox’s wound.

 

No mammal in that village had ever heard a more unholy sound than the scream of the fox as the flames cauterized the hole into his shoulder.

 

Judy pulled the poker out after several seconds and began to instantly apply the poultice to the wound, making sure to dab it as deep into the burned hole as she could reach.

 

Judy had never seen a mammal go as still as Nick did in that instant. Fearing the worst, she dipped one ear to his chest to see if he was still breathing or if his heart had given out. Though it was faint, it was still there. She let out a sigh of relief and returned to her work.

 

Once the poultice was firmly in place and the boiled bandages had been secured around it, Judy had the goats hold the board steady while Judy, Ellie and Mister Swift dragged Nick onto it painstakingly to make sure that they agitated his shoulder as little as possible.

 

Judy had the goats carry the fox upstairs to one of her guest beds – the one not being occupied by Ellie at the moment – and they repeated the procedure to transfer Nick into the bed. Judy thanked her lucky stars that she’d taken her good linens off the bed a few days prior, else they would have been ruined by all the blood that still matted the fox’s fur.

 

Once the fox was securely in place, Judy sent the goats and Mister Swift home. She also sent her apprentice to get some sleep, but the stubborn ewe she was, she argued to stay and continue to observe and learn. Judy, too tired by the events of the last hour to argue, simply accepted and told her to fetch some hemlock, some corpse-flower nectar, and a healthy pinch of salt. In the meantime, Judy went back to the kitchen and picked up the heavy tome simply titled _Volume XXXV_.

 

She opened the book on the bedside table while Ellie sprinkled salt across the fox’s torso. Judy then spread a few drops of the corpse-flower nectar onto Nick’s forehead, already feeling the burn of fever coming off the other mammal. Finally, she opened his mouth and stuck a hemlock leaf under his tongue.

 

“Ellie, what I’m about to do is an absolute secret, and must remain between us at all costs, okay?”

 

The young ewe nodded, but before Judy could say anything else, she blurted out, “You’re a witch, aren’t you?”

 

Judy looked her dead in the eye, and seeing only honest curiosity – against her better judgement – slowly nodded her head yes. “This will be the first time I’ve used my magic in almost a decade. I am a healer and an apothecary, and I would prefer to keep it that way. However, desperate situations call for desperate measures.”

 

“I understand,” the young sheep replied, looking down at the fox with something akin to awe. “I’m glad you’re one of the good witches, not like the ones the Cardinal is hunting.”

 

Something about the child’s comment didn’t sit well with Judy, but she pressed on regardless, at that point too mentally and physically exhausted to care.

 

Taking a deep breath, she began the ritual.


	10. Chapter 10

Judy ended up spending a lot of time in the evenings with Nick, discussing anything and everything that came to mind, with the exception of two things: his wound, and her witchcraft.

 

It had started as her just checking on his wounds, and for the first few days he wasn’t very talkative, moving in and out of consciousness as he fought off his fever. Once the fever broke, however, he very quickly became restless as he was confined to the bed. While the wound hadn’t been fatal and Judy’s ministrations had been effective in preventing infection, it had still taken an extraordinary amount of energy for him to recover from. Hence, he was bedridden for nearly a week.

 

“I must say, Judy,” Nick said jokingly one day as she redressed his wound, “you’re wasting an awful lot of time and energy on me for no money, not to mention resources.”

 

Judy shrugged. “I’ll do whatever it takes to save someone’s life and to help people. Besides, most mammals pay me in other ways. Any merchants that seek my services end up repaying their debt by providing me with any materials or services that I might need up to the value of their debt to me.”

 

“And if they don’t?”

 

“Then they know they’ll be getting a visit from one of the church’s debt collectors.” Nick’s teasing smile fell off his face and he started to look mildly panicked. Judy laughed and finished applying the salve. “Don’t worry, Mister Wilde. You’re a tailor; you can repay me by helping me repair some of my clothes that have gotten a little ragged over the years.”

 

The easy smile appeared on his face again as he relaxed back into the mattress under him. “That I can do, indeed. Which is good, because I don’t exactly have a lot of coin right now to spend on this treatment. Though I wonder how much of this work you’re doing on me is because I need it, and how much is because you simply enjoy roaming your hands over my body.”

 

Judy just sighed and poked the poultice into the cauterized wound maybe a little bit harder than she needed to, but secretly she was smiling at the easy banter… and the tiny yelp he let out as she poked him.


	11. Chapter 11

Word spread quickly of the miraculous healing powers of Judith Hopps. Her patient, Nicholas Wilde, had been shot in the shoulder. Some said that by all accounts, he should have died before the sunrise. But survive he did, and in what even Sister Margaret called a Miracle of God, the wound did not fester, it did not seem to limit the range of motion of the arm attached to the shoulder in question.

 

Some spiteful people whispered that the ‘miracle’ was actually the Devil’s work in disguise, and that the fox was one of Lucifer’s own servants sent to torture the mortals of Earth.

 

And of course, the most laughable rumour of all, that Judith Hopps was a witch, and that she used her otherworldly powers to heal the fox, just as she had used them to create every piece of medicine and every remedy that she had ever sold.

 

It was completely ludicrous… but Judith Hopps wasn’t laughing.

 

Within days it became common practice to completely avoid the topic whenever Judy was around. If she heard you talking about how she was a witch, the usually patient and understanding bunny would develop a sour mood and an expression to match, and would speak to you in clipped tones just long enough to say that it was against the will of the Lord for people to spread false information about one another.

 

Thankfully, Mister Swift helped come up with an explanation that seemed to satisfy most people – Judy’s parents had been accused of being witches simply because they were healers, and both of them had died of thirst while in prison during the Salem Witch Trials 12 years prior because of those false allegations. This seemed to quell the waggling tongues, but for Judy that created an entirely different problem.

 

All of a sudden, at the same time that people stopped talking about her being a witch, Cardinal Gideon decided to start poking his nose deep, deep into her business, to the point where he was there almost as much as Judy herself. And of course, if the Advisor of the Pope wants to inspect your house in the name of the Church, of course you would say yes – after all, you have nothing to hide, right?

 

Judy was thankful that she’d made the decision to take the ancient tomes that had been passed down in her family for generations and hide them in the Shrine of Hecate. It took three nights and the books were each thick, heavy volumes. The task left her cranky the mornings after she moved the books, but in the end her foresight paid off when the Cardinal came to visit.

 

But when he found nothing, he began to have Judy and her apprentice followed – unbeknownst to them, he was paying some of the local boys to keep him informed – and keep it secret. Unfortunately, that meant that when Judy made her monthly trip to the shrine, the Cardinal knew about every step she took.

 

Just as he had the last time, the old fox moved in the dead of night, soldiers breaking in through the back door and catching Judy and her apprentice entirely unaware of the intrusion until it was too late. Before either of them could protest, the hired mercenaries had grabbed, bound and gagged the rabbit and dragged her and the ewe out into the street.

 

A crowd was already gathering in the market square. Most of them were still rubbing sleep from their eyes, but a number of them were standing stony-faced, torches in hand, illuminating the object of everyone’s attention. Judy couldn’t help the panicked gasp that escaped her even through the gag on her mouth.

 

There, in the centre of the square, was a tepee of wood with a large wooden pole in the middle of it. And tied to the pole was a very familiar squirrel: Madame Bushtail. Her clothing was torn and there were scratches and lacerations marring her body. It was obvious she’d struggled against her assailants, but to no avail.

 

As Judy and her apprentice were carried towards the tepee – sparking memories in Judy’s mind that she didn’t even realize she had, memories of watching her father being burned alive, of the paintings and drawings of the trials that had happened before she was born – Father Joseph stepped out of the crowd with a few of the other priests trailing behind him. Judy had never been more thankful to see a group of angry mammals. She had also never seen Father Joseph ever get mad, but he was _furious_. It warmed Judy’s heart and helped her believe that the three of them might actually have a chance.

 

But before Father Joseph had a chance to open his mouth, Cardinal Gideon pulled out a document from inside his vest bearing the seal of the Pope and shoved it in his face. “The Pope has granted me the power to act as a mortal judge against the vile, blasphemous creatures called witches with impunity whenever and wherever I might come across them. I take this position very seriously, and I will not allow the mortal sentiments of weaker men to prevent me from enforcing the Lord’s divine will. Step aside, Father Joseph.”

 

The old goat moved his eyes between the document and the fox standing before him, working his jaw so much Judy was almost afraid that he would shatter his teeth. Finally, he shoved the document back into the old fox’s claws. “You may have the Lord’s permission to persecute those who have proven to be witches, but that only gives you the ability to execute them. What proof do you have that they indeed _are_ witches?”

 

“They are healers. That is the most obvious point. They meddle with the arcane forces that should remain in the realm only of our Lord, and yet they are mortal. Is that not evidence enough?”

 

“Then why have you decided not to persecute Sister Margaret? Or Sister Mary? Both of them are also healers, and apothecaries, just as these three that you have arbitrarily selected as _witches!_ ”

 

“Sister Mary and Sister Margaret have both devoted themselves to our Lord, and so they are conduits for His divine miracles. These heathens that you see before you, Father, have not. That is the difference.”

 

“Are you so sure, Cardinal? Miss Hopps is at church every single Sunday, and always volunteers her services whenever she is able, or whenever the church needs them. She is a good Christian woman devoted to the Church and to our Lord. Miss Stonehorn is the same, though she is but an apprentice. And Madame Bushtail is just as devoted; though she doesn’t attend our Sunday services as much as Miss Hopps, she spends that time taking care of the sick in our infirmary so that Sister Margaret and Sister Mary may attend the service themselves.”

 

“Miss Hopps is a pretender of the faith, Father. Just the other night my agents followed her to a shrine of a heathen goddess, where she knelt and prayed. While there, we also found books of forbidden knowledge, tomes of spells and enchantments penned by the hand of the Devil himself! And Miss Stonehorn here is her apprentice, and is likely apprenticed to her in more than just the healing arts!”

 

“Come now, Cardinal. You can’t seriously expect us to just stand by and let you execute a mere _child!_ ” Everyone turned to look at the new voice, and Judy was both elated and scared to see the lithe, if wounded, form of Nicholas Wilde standing across from them. “It’s absolutely barbaric; even if she were a witch – and I’m not sure I quite believe that a child such as her could be classified as such – would it not be better to show her the error of the ways of witchcraft and allow her to redeem herself in the eyes of the Lord?”

 

“Don’t mock me with that drivel, Mister Wilde,” the Cardinal replied with irritation. “You and I both know that you have no faith or belief in the Lord.”

 

“You’re wrong, Cardinal; I do believe in the Lord, and accept him as my god. I’m just not allowed at church because of the belief that the two of us share. The only difference is you managed to get onto the right side of the Pontifex. And I know my duty, as a good Christian mammal, is to stop you from killing innocent people. So I cannot let you go through with this. Not again.”

 

“Are you offering to take her place, Mister Wilde?”

 

The old fox laughed. Nick just tilted his head, and after a moment replied simply with “Yes.”

 

Whispers spread through the crowd. Judy could only stare dumbfounded at the fox who was now moving towards her and the Cardinal. A motion out the corner of her eye revealed the Cardinal was in a similar position, his jaw hanging open as he stared at the younger fox.

 

“Well, Cardinal? Would you rather execute this old thorn in your side? Or be forever labelled the murderer of a child?”

 

Cardinal Gideon closed his mouth. Even Judy could tell he was trying to keep the smile off his face. “Very well, I will execute you instead of her.”

 

“And you’ll release Madame Bushtail, too.”

 

“That is not the deal here, Wilde.”

 

“Then burn them all. But please remember, if I walk free, word of your treachery will reach the ears of the Archbishop and _you_ will be the one facing the wrath of our Lord.”

 

“And you believe that you will be leaving here alive regardless, Mister Wilde?”

 

“You just threatened to murder me, Cardinal. Whether or not you have the authority from the Church to execute any witches you might find, a straight up murder of an innocent mammal will earn you a place in hell. And all of that will be getting back to the Archbishop as well.”

 

“From who? You?”

 

Nick grinned as he stepped closer to the Cardinal. “You’re not the only one who has contacts in this village, you old fox. If I walk free, I deliver my message to the Archbishop. If I don’t, my associates will deliver it themselves. And you can’t stop an entire village’s worth of merchants and farmers from trading their wares and produce in other towns. It would require an extraordinary man-power that you don’t have.”

 

The old fox seemed flabbergasted that Nick had such a well-thought-out plan. Judy couldn’t blame him for that. She didn’t have the slightest idea if what Nick said was true, but if it was it showed a remarkable amount of cunning – and a large amount of trust in the Cardinal’s will to get rid of him. She only hoped that he had some kind of plan to get them both out of there alive.

 

Finally, the Cardinal took a step back. “Fine! You have it your way, Mister Wilde. Both Miss Stronghorn and that despicable squirrel will be released. But you and Miss Hopps shall still burn this night!”

 

“Of course.”

 

One of the Cardinal’s agents untied Ellie and shoved her roughly away from their group. Her father and mother shoved their way through the group and intercepted their daughter before she could hit the ground. They pulled her away with them, glaring back at the Cardinal and the other mammals surrounding him.

 

Judy heard a sharp intake of breath and a fair amount of what she could only describe as French profanity from Madame Bushtail. The older healer was undoubtedly very skilled – the English colony wouldn’t have accepted a French healer otherwise – but nevertheless, the language only heightened Judy’s perceptions of why the English hated the French so much.

 

The squirrel was also shoved roughly away from the fire after she’d been untied, and suddenly Judy was being hoisted in the air and carried over to the wooden tepee. A moment later, Nick was being tied up beside her.

 

The Cardinal began reciting the crimes that the two of them were accused of. Judy was more focused on the words escaping Nick’s mouth, however. “No one in this town wants another burning. I managed to convince a few of them to help us out. Once the fire gets going, it will cause a shift in the ground underneath the pyre. We’ll have to move quickly to avoid getting burned.” The sly fox continued on to explain his plan in detail, never letting more than a fraction of his lips move. Judy tensed at first, but began to relax a little bit once she understood exactly what the fox had done for her – for both of them.

 

The Cardinal finished reading the list of their “crimes” and motioned for one of his cronies to ignite the tepee. The goat put his torch low to the ground, slowly circling them to make sure the entire thing ignited. Then he threw the torch into the middle and the flames shot up higher.


	12. Chapter 12

Judy could feel the torch hitting the stake to which they were tied. At the same instant, she could feel the ground shift underneath them and all of a sudden they were falling, falling towards the burning hole in the ground. Judy began to panic, squirming around, struggling to break free of the ropes that bound her wrists and tied her to the wooden pole.

 

And then, as if by magic (none of hers, unfortunately; spells had to be verbal and with her mouth gagged she was as useless at magic as a bullfrog) both sets of ropes snapped and she found herself falling freely.

 

She had barely touched the blazing ground when she was already rolling away from the impact site and into the tunnel that had been dug underneath the town square. Judy had no idea how it had been constructed, especially without anyone noticing, but she didn’t have time to question it and began sprinting away as fast as she could. Despite his injuries, Nick kept up with her fairly well.

 

After a few minutes, the dim light provided by the fire glowing in the mouth of the passage was too dim for her to see by, and she had to let Nick take the lead. She grabbed on to his tail to keep from getting separated. Thankfully he seemed to know where he was going, because the number of passages would have confused her to no end.

 

Judy began to recognize the pattern of the tunnels as belonging to a rabbit’s warren. She marvelled that the entire town hadn’t collapsed if this extensive substructure was present the entire time.

 

Eventually the tunnel began to get lighter and after no time at all, they emerged out of the tunnel on the outskirts of the town, looking at a very familiar structure…

 

The sound of hoofs and the creak of a wagon’s wheels drew her attention, and she was giddy with relief when she saw the buck sitting at the front. “Mister Swift!” She let go of Nick’s tail and threw herself into the cart at the older rabbit. “But how?”

 

“The shop back in Salem wasn’t the only land that our ancestors owned, my dear,” he replied, giving her a fierce hug before depositing her onto the seat beside him. “This farm has also been ours, long before Tri-burrows was founded. Now… Well, I sold it earlier today at the behest of Mister Wilde over here. Mister Johnson, Jr. seemed eager to buy it; said he was hoping to put his sons to work in the fields.”

 

“We should go,” Nick added, heaving himself up into the seat beside them with a grunt of pain. Judy put out her hand to steady him. “They won’t be far behind, and if the Cardinal has any inkling of these tunnels, he’ll be here in heartbeats.”

 

“Don’t have to worry about that, Mister Wilde,” Swift replied with a chuckle. “Those tunnels have been just as secret as our shrine and the old tomes.” A shocked and angry Judy turned to the black rabbit with rebukes ready on her lips. Nick cut her off before she could say anything, however.

 

“Don’t worry, Judy; I knew everything before I ever spoke with him. It’s how I convinced him to trust me. I managed to weasel it out of the Cardinal’s agent that followed you, and then I put two and two together from descriptions I’d heard from the residents of Salem when I was doing research there. I must admit, it was difficult to piece together that he was your uncle.”

 

“You… you knew…”

 

“Nothing to do about it now, Judy,” her uncle Swift said. “Just let’s get a move on. I’ve got all the tomes in the back, hidden under the bags of oats, under the tarp. I’ve also picked up your stuff from your shop; wasn’t hard once those lunatics had kicked down the door. I got most everything, I think.”

 

“I… Thank you, Uncle. I appreciate it.”

 

The rabbit nodded and leaned forward to speak to the horses pulling the wagon. They both nodded their heads and began pulling the cart at a trot. The two rabbits reclined against each other and the fox leaned back to look at the stars as they made their way off to the north, away from the village and on to new adventures.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and feedback are always welcome!


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